Scott Ross Throws Out the First Smear

I knew "Peace in our Time" wouldnt last too long.

so here is the first volley, from a Liberal blogger in British Columbia who believes that a comment quoted in a column by a discredited journalist with a reputation for playing with the facts, FROM TEN YEARS AGO is a good thing to post on the day when Liberals said they were gonna keep things civil.

I can find quotes that make it look like Michael Ignatieff thinks torture is awesome. We all know he doesnt.

Not even Jan Wong can change that.

Scott took a quote and launched an attack. He threw a grenade into a minefield. Had he read anything that Michael wrote about Quebec at the time, about nationalism at the time, he would have seen that something was fishy about the quote.

They teach us how to be objective in journalism school. We are also warned to not be lazy and to check our facts, so we dont do things like report that John McCallum will be named interim leader of the Liberal Party.

We do not take quotes and trumpet them as fact. We confirm them. We call. We check. This is why bloggers havent been able to make it to the next step.

The most difficult thing in my career will be to stay out of this race, because the smears came last time, and it drove me up the wall. I still have a great deal of respect for Michael Ignatieff, but I will not campaign for him.

Scott chose to play gotcha, and that is his decision.

He has the right to do that.

I also have the right to call bullshit.